Sunday Homily September 9, 2012, 23rd Ordinary Time B
Readings:
Isaiah, 35, 4-7, The eyes of the blind will be opened
Psalm 146, Praise the Lord, My Soul
James, 2, 1-5, Did not God choose those who are poor?
Mark, 7, 31-37, Immediately, the man’s ears were opened.
A few words about today’s readings
1st reading from Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Ch. 35
You know well how the Old Testament prophets operated: telling the Jewish people, “You’ve done wrong”, then prophesying “Yehweh will punish you”, and then prophesying “there will come a time of repentance and blessing from Yahweh who is merciful”. In today’s reading Isaiah is prophesying a time of healing and blessing.
2nd reading from the Letter of James, Ch. 2
As Stack said last week, James was the administrator of the Jerusalem Christian community. Paul refers to him as “ the brother of Jesus”. His letter was probably written around the year 50 AD which would make it the earliest writing in the New Testament, still over a generation after Jesus. It was written to the “dispersion”, that is, to Jews who were followers of Jesus and were scattered outside Israel. The letter of James is one of 5 small books in the New Testament that were disputed in the early church, and were not accepted as inspired books of the Bible until the early 5th century, The other 4 were the second and third letters of John, the second letter of Peter and the letter of Jude. The Letter of James acquired special significance at the time of the Reformation in the 16th century when the priest Martin Luther said this letter’s emphasis on good works contradicts Paul’s doctrine that we are justified by faith. Luther also disagreed with the Council of Trent that the Letter of James refers to the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. James Ch 5:14 reads, “Is there anyone sick among you? He should ask for the presbyters of the church. They in turn are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”
3rd reading from the Gospel according to Mark, Ch. 7
Mark’s Gospel was written with non-Jewish readers in mind. We know this because there are very few quotes from the Old Testament in Mark, he explains particular Jewish customs, and he translates any Aramaic expression into Greek, as in today’s reading where the Aramaic word “Ephphatha”, is translated into the Greek word for “Open” or “Be opened”.
Homily
For over twelve years, John Cade, in addition to his private practice of counseling, has worked in an agency setting with victims of violence, including victims of sexual assault. Currently he serves on the board of the non-profit Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center or DARCC. Since the theme of our gathering today is healing, John invited Monica Urbaniak, a bi-lingual counselor at the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center (or DARCC) to speak about the work of DARCC. Monica will talk about what DARCC is, what they do, and what they need from the community to maintain and enhance their services.